The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever

by Richard C. Hoagland

Book Overview

In 1976, NASA sent four Viking spacecraft to Mars to photograph the planet and test for the presence of life. One of the orbiters photographed a mile-long mesa that uncannily resembled a human face. Hoagland takes readers step by step through the NASA images and evidence that a former civilization may have lived on Mars. Photos, maps, and charts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0938190784
• ISBN13: 9780938190783
• Release Date: October 1987
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Really makes you think!

This book is absolutely compelling reading from page one. I've been following this since I read the first (?) edition of this book published in 1987. That book (348 pages, much smaller than this updated version) caused me to begin questioning the human belief system. That is to say I began to wonder about whether what we all have been taught to accept as 'fact' was in fact real. I began talking to everyone I knew about this, and discovered that even people I had previously thought to be open-minded were actually pretty closed minded on this subject. Since then, I've been on kind of a personal quest to find out why people have such a problem accepting anything Hoagland says. I personally still have not been convinced of anything on this 'Face on Mars' one way or the other, but Hoagland's theories are fascinating and well thought out enough that I don't think they can be dismissed out of hand. I've read reviews from others who just laugh and say that these formations are just coincidental and formed by nature. This could be true, but how can these people be so sure? Would these same people dismiss the Egyptian pyramids as natural formations too? (Obviously not, since they are close by and easy to study. Apparently, just because Mars is so far away, this automatically disqualifies it from further study). Why are they so intent on dismissing Hoagland's theories so quickly, without really knowing? I think it has something to do with a fear that their own belief systems are threatened by any seemingly implausible evidence or theories. To me, this book is much more than a book about strange Martian constructions. It is more a criticism of the closed-mindedness that is stopping mankind from making progress and discoveries that could change the world as we know it. Do we really think we already know all there is to know about this? Hoagland doesn't ever claim to know everything about this. All he wants is answers, and apparently the 'scientific' community doesn't, or at least doesn't care. What has happened to humankind's curiosity? Our curiosity is what got our civilization this far. Why stop now?

What's wrong with Hoagland's Ideas?

I hate to break the string of 33 reviews, but the Egyptair crash had enough 33s for many reviews. Contrary to critics claims, the face and Cydonia aren't just hills and sand dunes and the pyramids were not built just for the heck of it by Egyptians. A scientist, Thomas Van Flanderen gave billion to one odds against all the features at Cydonia being natural. It's been documented that NASA and other scientists dissmissed Cydonia without investigation. And what's wrong with accepting that there has been a higher culture that either humans or Martians built? His website alleges that the Egyptian god Osiris was a real person (or thing) and that NASA planned their missions to coincide with the stars. What's wrong with those ideas? To all the dedicated people who say that NASA is covering nothing up, why would they align their missions with the stars? If Cydonia is insignificant, why do they plan for the targeting of it to have a star in a crucial position? His hyperdimensional model keeps on getting confirmed, one piece at a time. The book's allegations about Cydonia have been proved right by recent photos. I ask that people put aside their ideas about life outside Earth and listen to the guy. There is nothing wrong with what he presents. (And by the way, he may be right.)

Hoagland is Brilliant

This book is fantastic. Richard Hoagland is brilliant. The work he has done says it all. While other scientists "take credit" for his work, Hoagland delivers quality theory that has motivated NASA and many other agencies to pursue that theory. Hoagland was the co-creator of the Pioneer Plaque, the first person to theorize that Europa might be a water based moon (which now has been proven, yet other scientists claim "they found"), and insofar as his work with Mars is concerned, most of what the public sees is a result of his courage, his brilliance, and obvious superior intellect in astronomy, physics, and astrophysics. Hoagland may not receive the credit he deserves during his lifetime for his work, like many talented scientists before him, but I am convinced he will eventually. But read this book and go to his website enterprisemission.com to sample his outstanding theories. And, many of those theories are now in a new movie, Mission to Mars, which will be released shortly. Unfortunately, again, Hoagland is not given the credit he deserves in the making of this movie, yet the producer's brother consulted with Hoagland as to the facts of the "FACE" on Mars as well as other facts, as Hoagland developed them, many years ago. If you want the truth about the factual evidence of extraterrestrial "structures" on Mars, solidly backed up by concrete scientific evidence, buy this book. You won't be disappointed.